Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/505

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INNESS


IRBY


navigation of the Mississippi river, but with other prominent patriots he repelled the advances made by Spanish agents to induce the Kentuckians to accept Spanish protection. Efforts to impeach him were made in 1808, but congress refused to act. He died in Frankfort, Ky., Sept. 20, 1816.

INNESS, George, landscape painter, was born in Newburg, N.Y., May 1, 1825; son of Jolm W. and Clara (Baldwin) Inness; grandson of John Inness, and a descendant of Scotch ancestors. From early boyhood he was afflicted with epilepsy, which prevented regular study. He removed to Newark, N.J., when very young and there mas- tered the rudiments of drawing and painting. His only regular in- structor was Regis Gignoux, in whose studio in New York city he studied for one month in 1845. He visited Rome and Florence, and in 1850, while in Paris, paint- ed "St. Peter's at Rome," which he sold in England. He also painted a smaller picture of the same ^ -. subject, which he

"^^c^ c. C;^^^^^-'*'^'^^ ^^^^ to ^ citizen of New York travelling in Europe. This picture was later seen by Mr. George Williams, of Williams & Stevens, art dealers in New York, who commissioned Inness to paint the same subject on a larger canvas for $350. The picture was exhibited on Broadway and was sold to an Englishman for $1500. Mr. Inness lived and painted abroad for a number of years in order to find a more ready market for his pictures. Upon returning to America he lived for a time in a suburb of Boston, Mass., then at Eagles wood, N.J., 1862-67; and in New York city, 1867-71. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1868. He was again in Italy, 1871-75, and thereafter made his home in Montclair, N.J. He was awarded a medal at the Paris Exposition of 1889. He was pronounced by ■some critics to have been " America's greatest landscape painter. " His more notable works in- clude: A View from the Delectable Mountains; The Delaware Water Gap (1853); The New Jeru- salem and River of Life (1864); The Valley of the Shadoio of Death (1864); The Sign of Promise (1865); Light Triumphant (1865); Joy after the Storm; Peace and Plenty (1865); A Passing Storm; The Mountain Storm; The After Gloio; Autumn; Tivilight; Summer Sunshine and Shad- mo, and American Sunset. Many of these were among the American paintings exhibited at the


Paris exposition of 1867 and in the exposition of 1878 he was represented by St. Peters from the Tiber and View Near Medford, Mass. His later pictures include: Under the Green Wood; A Sum- vier Morning; A Day in June; Sunset on the Sea Shore; Durham Meadows; Florida Morning (ISdi). He died at Bridge-of- Allan, Scotland, Aug. 3, 1894.

INNESS, Qeorge, Jr., animal painter, was born in Paris, France, Jan. 5, 1854; son of George and Elizabeth (Hart) Inness. He was a pupil of his father in Rome, Italy, 1870-74, and of Bonnat, in Paris, in 1875. He lived in Boston, Mass., 1876- 78, and in New York, where he occupied a studio with liis father, 1878-94. He resided in Mont- clair, N.J., after 1880, and had a studio in Paris, 1895-99. His first pictures were exliibited at the National Academy of Design. His works: The Ford and Patience were at the Academy in 1877; At the Brook and The Pride of the Dairy in 1878; Pasture at Chemung, Monarch at the Head and Returning to Work in 1886; After the Combat and A Mild Day in 1887.

IRBY, John Laurens flanning, senator, was born in Laurens, S.C, Sept. 10, 1854; son of James H. and Henrietta (Earle) Irby; grandson of Capt. William and Eliza (Thompson) Irby, and a descendant of Capt. William Irby, of Loudoun county, Va. His grandfather was an officer in the Revolutionary war. He was educated at the Laurensville academy, the College of New Jersey and the University of Virginia. He then studied law, was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1876, and practised his profession for three years, after which he devoted himself to agricul- tural pursuits. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the South Carolina militia in 1877; was a representative in the state legislature, 1886-90, and was unanimously elected speaker in 1890. In the national campaign of that j'ear he was chair- man of the Democratic state executive commit- tee, and on December 11 of the same year he was elected U.S. senator, receiving 105 of the votes of the joint houses of the legislature, 43 votes being given to Wade Hampton and 10 to M. L. Donald- son. He took his seat, March 4, 1891, and served a full term, retiring March 3, 1897. He was chairman of the committee on transportation routes and a member of the civil service, coast defence, mines and niining. and post offices and post roads committees. After retiring from the senate he practised law at Laui'ens, S.C, where he died, after a protracted illness, Dec. 9, 1900.

IRBY, Richard, author, was born in Notta,way county, Va., Sept. 28, 1825; son of Edmund and Frances Briggs (Lucas) Irby; grandson of Wil- liam and Jane (Edmunds) Irby, and a descendant of Edmund Irby (1685-1738), the first of the name known in America, who married Ann Blunt, and was a planter of Prince George county, Va.